Tag: insulitis

Diabetes mellitus results from an insufficiency of insulin (Type 1 diabetes) or an inability to properly respond to insulin (Type 2 diabetes). Type 1 diabetes is caused by an attack by the patient’s own immune system on their pancreatic beta cells, which synthesize and secrete insulin. It is a disease characterized by inflammation in the pancreas. This suggests that abatement of inflammation in the pancreas might provide relief and delay the onset of diabetes.

Mesenchymal stem cells isolated from umbilical cord connective tissue, which is also known as Wharton’s jelly (WJ-MSCs), have the ability to reverse inflammatory destruction and might provide a way to delay or even reverse the onset of Type 1 diabetes.

To test this possibility, Jianxia Hu, Yangang Wang, and their colleagues took 60 non-obese diabetic mice and divided them into four groups: a normal control group, a normal diabetic group, a WJ-MSCs prevention group that was treated with WJ-MSCs before the onset of diabetes, and a WJ-MSCs treatment group that was treated with WJ-MSCs after the onset of diabetes.

After their respective treatments, the onset time of diabetes, levels of fasting plasma glucose (FPG), fed blood glucose levels and C-peptide (an indication of the amount of insulin synthesized), regulation of cytokines, and islet cells were examined and evaluated.

After WJ-MSCs infusion, fasting and fed blood glucose levels in WJ-MSCs treatment group decreased to normal levels in 6-8 days and were maintained for 6 weeks. The levels of fasting C-peptide of the WJ-MSC-treated mice was higher compared to diabetic control mice. In the WJ-MSCs prevention group, WJ-MSCs protected mice from the onset of diabetes for 8-weeks, and the fasting C-peptide in this group was higher compared to the other two diabetic groups.

Other comparisons between the WJ-MSC-treated group and the diabetic control group, showed that levels of regulatory T-cells (that down-regulate autoinflammation), were high and levels of pro-inflammatory molecules such as IL-2, IFN-γ, and TNF-α. The degree of inflammation in the pancreas was also examined, and pancreatic inflammation was depressed, especially in the WJ-MSCs prevention group.

These experiments show that infusions of WJ-MSCs can down-regulate autoimmunity and facilitate the recovery of islet β-cells whether given before or after onset of Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus. THis suggests that WJ-MSCs might be an effective treatment for Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus.